Taking the right bus

Vinaya Patil

Tuesday, 18 July 2017

The cast of upcoming Marathi movie Bus Stop visited Sakal Times recently. Here’s what they had to say about the film...

It’s not your run-of-the-mill love story between two youngsters, say the actors of Marathi movie Bus Stop, slated for release on July 21. The cast of the movie, who visited the Sakal Times office last week, say that the movie is an official remake of a 2012 Telugu movie of the same name.

Speaking of the name, actor Aniket Vishwasrao, who plays a young collegian in the movie, says, “Bus Stop is used as an analogy for our lives. All of us often reach such stages in life where we are waiting to take the next bus — making decisions and deciding on which bus to board. All of us in the movie are students of final year MBA. So we are on the threshold of our new lives — that of being working professionals. Thus the name.”

While Pooja Sawant stars opposite Aniket in the film, the other cast consists of young actors like Siddharth Chandekar, Hemant Dhome, Amruta Khanwilkar, Akshay Waghmare, Rasika Sunil, Madhura Deshpande, and Suyog Gore. Bus Stop is written and directed by Sameer Joshi, who has directed Mangalashtak Once More in the past.
“It’s a movie about the inner thoughts of youngsters and what we all pretend to be. We are conveniently only thinking of ourselves all the time and behave in ways that will benefit us. This is beautifully yet subtly portrayed in the movie,” explains Siddharth, who made his Marathi debut with Avdhoot Gupte’s Zenda in 2010. His character in the movie, he adds, is someone who has a materialistic approach to love. “This too is something we can all relate to. There are such people all around us. Expensive gifts, elite dinners and shopping are their ideas of expressing love,” he says.

It’s not all about youngsters though, unlike many recent Marathi movies. “This one talks about our relations with our parents, the nuances of the generation gap and their point of view too,” says Hemant, adding that the movie’s tone has been purposefully kept light and funny. “We don’t intend sounding too preachy.”

These parents, played by senior Marathi actors like Sharad Ponkshe, Vidyadhar Joshi, Uday Tikekar and Sanjay Mone among others, add to the rather huge cast of the movie. How was it working with such veterans? “Oh it was amazing. You should have seen them on sets. They were the ones having a ball and enjoying every bit of it. They looked younger than us,” share the youngsters. “Although there was some anxiety while enacting some serious scenes with Sharad (Ponkshe) kaka,” says Madhura, who plays another girl in love in the movie.

On being asked about the justice each character gets in such a multi-starrer, Aniket says that it all depends on the individual and his/her dedication towards the character. “You may have a five-minute part in a movie but that might be the strongest character. So, a multi-starrer film doesn’t make any difference to a good actor,” adds Hemant. The movie has a mix of hip-hop, pop and rock music.

The Marathi film industry has recently witnessed some amazing work; do they, as young actors, see hope for the future? “Yes, certainly. In terms of content, Marathi movies are doing great. Although commercially we are still quite weak, content is growing stronger by the day. So yes, there’s hope,” concludes Siddharth.